The True Tragedy of the Duke of York
By William Shakespeare
From 23 July
Playing at the Globe and touring the UK
CREATIVES
Directed by
Nick Bagnall
Designed by
Ti Green
Composed by
Alex Baranowski
CAST
Graham Butler
King Henry VI
Garry Cooper
Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester
Mary Doherty
Queen Margaret
Roger Evans
Duke of Suffolk / Jack Cade
Mike Grady
Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester
Simon Harrison
Charles the Dauphin / Richard
David Hartley
Young Clifford / Duke of Somerset
Nigel Hastings
Duke of Bedford / Duke of Burgundy / Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March / Dick the Butcher
Joe Jameson
John Talbot / Edmund, Earl of Rutland
Patrick Myles
Edward, Earl of March (later King Edward IV)
Brendan O’Hea
Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York / Lewis XI, King of France
Gareth Pierce
Reignier, Duke of Anjou / George, Duke of Clarence
Beatriz Romilly
Joan of Arc / Eleanor, Duchess of Gloucester / Lady Grey
Andrew Sheridan
Earl of Warwick / Lord Talbot
'Why, I can smile, and murder whiles I smile.'
A bloody power struggle opens up between the King’s party, led by the fearsome Queen Margaret, and the Yorkists, led first by Richard, then his sons Edward and ‘that lump of foul deformity’, Richard of Gloucester.
The plays which make up Shakespeare’s Henry VI create a world without ideology; a savage time, when the heroes are not kings, but formidable women, such as Joan of Arc, or rebels, such as Jack Cade.
Bold characterisation, black comedy, rhetorical power and, in the personality of Henry VI, touching pathos combine in Shakespeare’s powerful rendering of a country racked by civil war.
Shakespeare almost certainly did not set out to write a trilogy. Each play can be enjoyed without knowledge of the others.
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Related Events
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Perspectives
Platform discussion providing further insights into the play
Wednesday 4 September
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